WomenGive members give more than $1 million in child-care scholarships to single mothers

By Shelley Widhalm Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
02/20/2014 06:14:21 PM MST

Loveland resident Tracy Susan didn't intend to be a single mother, but when it happened, she enrolled in college to make a better life for herself and her son.

After paying for child care her first semester at Colorado State University -- she transferred from a community college in Colorado Springs -- she questioned continuing studying wildlife biology full time and also paying for child care until she learned about WomenGive.

Susan told 600 women Thursday how WomenGive, a network of women who use their financial resources to help women in Larimer County move toward economic self-sufficiency, provided her with childcare scholarships for the next four semesters.

"Paying for adequate day care was second on my stresses list with paying for living costs at number one. The relief I received with the help of WomenGive can't be explained in words," Susan said at WomenGive's eighth annual membership luncheon at Embassy Suites Loveland. "They are amazing at providing encouragement and support."

The 300 members of WomenGive, a program of United Way of Larimer County, support access to higher education through child-care scholarships and emergency assistance. Seventy percent of what they give goes toward child-care scholarships for low-income, single women and 30 percent toward addressing public policy issues related to women and self-sufficiency at the state level.

"I'm a member of WomenGive because the model is simple, elegant and brilliant in its impact," said Lise Youngblade, a member of WomenGive. "When a WomenGive scholarship recipient graduates, she's not only launching her future, but she's inspiring the dreams and aspirations of her children and demonstrating a very real example of an educational pathway by which to do so."

Education is the number one strategy for reducing poverty, Youngblade said.

Women lose childcare work support when their salaries reach $14 an hour, or $29,000 a year, said Christine Chin, a member of the board of trustees for the Women's Foundation of Colorado.

"Colorado is the fifth least affordable state in the nation for center-based infant care, and finding childcare at all also can be a challenge," Chin said. "It's clear they can't make ends meet without extra support."

So far, WomenGive has contributed more than $1 million to pay for 406 scholarships that have helped 146 families with 214 children.

Sixty-four of the women receiving the scholarships have graduated since the program was founded in 2006 by a group of women who believe in the ability of women to support other women.

"What I love most about women is how we rally around each other," said Alison Hines, chairwoman and a charter member of WomenGive. "We know we can accomplish more together. We believe in the potential of every woman. We believe in the power of the collective."

WomenGive graduate Hadley Iacovelli told the members how her marriage ended just after she brought home her special needs child and that she went back to school to get a degree in nursing. She gradated with honors and as of April 2013 has been working as a neonatal nurse, she said.

"I reached my dream and I couldn't do it without the WomenGive scholarship," Iacovelli said.